Endless summer of roses

For years, a sure sign of approaching summer has been the cry of wine writers lamenting how prejudiced Americans are against rose. There are many fine dry roses from Europe, the writers would point out, but we doltishly ignore them because we lump all roses with sweet, unsophisticated white Zinfandel.

This seems to have been the summer in which we caught on. Just look on restaurant wine lists -- there’s a far greater range of roses than there was five years ago. Check out the wine shops, where roses often have displays of their own. At the Wine House in West Los Angeles, they’re the only wines not grouped by region, a sure sign that people are specifically shopping for them, not just browsing among the Chateauneuf-du-Papes and picking up a Costieres de Nimes rose by accident.

And we’re not going to stop drinking them just because it’s “not summer” any longer. In Southern California, it’s always rose weather, not just from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but straight on through Thanksgiving and even New Year’s. Why do you think it’s called the Rose Parade?

A lot of attention has been paid in the press to California roses, and Jeff Morgan, who makes nothing but rose at his Solorosa winery in Napa Valley, is writing a book on the subject. We’re likely to see more California roses too; the grape glut that has led to the super-budget Charles Shaw wines may make rose a more attractive proposition to winemakers.

But though respectable roses are made in many places, the real pink action these days is in a belt that runs through southern France and northern Spain.

“I’ve always related drinking rose and being in France,” says Caroline Styne, wine director of Lucques and A.O.C. “I used to stay with friends in the south of France at an 18th century chateau in the middle of nowhere, and all we would do all summer was drink vin gris and eat foie gras. Or we’d go to the beach and have steak tartare with rose. So that whole Bandol-Languedoc-Provence area is still pretty much where rose is for me.”

The man who introduced Californians to these Mediterranean roses was Kermit Lynch, the Bay Area wine merchant who was the first American to go exploring off the beaten track in France. He brought the Bandol rose from Domaine Tempier to the attention of his neighborhood restaurant, which happened to be Berkeley’s famous Chez Panisse, and Chez Panisse practically made Domaine Tempier its house wine in the 1980s.

You couldn’t ask for better advertising. As early as 1988, Domaine Tempier was commanding $13.95 a bottle, unheard of for a rose. Today you’re lucky to find it for less than $30.

Pretty and refreshing

Bandol has caught on for good reason: It’s approachable but not cloying; it’s fragrant and pretty and refreshing and easy to drink.

The best French and Spanish roses have the light, attractive perfume and moderate alcohol that make them something you’d like to sip out on the patio, along with the crispness to make them work with a salad, and enough body (and even a little tannin) to stand up to bouillabaisse or grilled butterflied leg of lamb.

The great rose grape is Grenache (called Garnacha in Spain), which naturally makes a light-colored red wine -- it takes special effort to get an intense red out of it -- so making rose is not a stretch.

Its simple charm, along with its tolerance of drought and its success in stony soils, have made Grenache the second most widely planted grape in the world.

However, Grenache doesn’t score high on acidity, tannin or perfume, so in the rose zone it’s usually blended with other grapes. In Navarre and adjacent parts of Aragon, Spanish winemakers often add some of the great local red wine grape, Tempranillo.

In France, the varieties most often added are Syrah for backbone and distinction, Cinsault for fresh fruit and Mourvedre for tannin and acid.

This is as true in Languedoc to the west (Corbieres, Costieres de Nimes) and Cotes de Provence in the east as in the southern Rhone Valley itself (Tavel, Lirac, Cotes du Ventoux).

In Bandol, though -- in the southernmost spur of Provence -- Mourvedre is the primary grape. Normally the variety, whose aromas have been described as “stewed” and less flattering things, is used primarily for blending.

But in Bandol, the law requires that rose be made from at least 50% Mourvedre. This explains the distinctive flavor of Bandol rose, not to mention its particular color.

Instead of the pretty rose or cherry shades of Grenache-based roses, Bandol has a salmon pink color shading into pale orange or onionskin.

The first southern French rose to be “discovered” was Tavel, which Ernest Hemingway declared his favorite wine some 70 years ago, so it’s widely available, often a bit pricey and frequently insipid. Meanwhile, Bandol has become prohibitively expensive.

But there are still bargains to be found. In our tasting, reasonably priced wines from Cotes du Ventoux and Corbieres did very well. And in a few years, people will probably look back and wonder why Americans ignored Spanish roses, or rosados, for so long.

Navarre is the great province for Spanish roses, though they also do well in neighboring Rioja and in Aragon.

In this tasting, it was not lost on anyone that the top wine, from a little-known corner of Aragon, was only $4.99 (at Topline Wine & Spirits in Glendale, slightly more elsewhere).

Perfect for picnics

It can’t be an accident that fine dry roses tend to come from warm climates like our own, where people often entertain outside. No wine is more out-of-doors-y than rose.

“I call it the perfect Hollywood Bowl wine,” says Bill Fernandez of Bicentennial 13 wine shop in Los Angeles, “because it goes well with picnics.”

Cold fried chicken: Serve rose. Cold cuts such as ham and salami: Rose is your best bet. And it goes wonderfully with just about anything you grill. French haute cuisine was conceived with Burgundy or Bordeaux in mind, but when you get to more casual French dishes like seafood stews or jambon persille, rose is often more appropriate.

Spanish and Provencal dishes, with their sunburnt flavors of olives, garlic, saffron, peppers and dried herbs, cry out for rose. (Paella? Rose. Tapas? Rose, unless you feel like a sherry.)

Many Asian dishes would be crowded off the table by a powerful Cabernet or Chardonnay, but rose may strike the right note with them. Ditto spicy southwestern and Mexican foods.

And then there’s California cuisine, which is pretty much all these things, and whatever else we feel like eating. Because around here, summer is a state of mind.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

French and Spanish roses

Putting roses through a tasting feels a little like ordering Miss America hopefuls into a police lineup. Really, they’re all so charming and accomplished.

But taste them we did, last week at the Los Angeles Times. Our panel included Times columnists David Shaw and Russ Parsons, staff writer Corie Brown and food editor Leslie Brenner.

We blind-tasted a dozen roses from France and Spain. All were Grenache or Grenache blends, though the Bandols are at least 50% Mourvedre, as required by the laws of the appellation.

Roses don’t display much complexity. The panel agreed that with the exception of two bottlings that were eliminated because they were in bad condition, these were all likable, drinkable wines, and that if we had been eating some nice salami with them, they’d all be winners.

Generally, the French wines fared best, but a spunky Spanish rose from a little-known region topped the list -- and it was the least expensive bottle in the tasting.

The wines are listed in order of the panel’s preference.

2003 Marques de Daroca Grenache Rose (Valle del Jiloca, Aragon). Deep cherry-rose color, with pretty strawberry aromas. Well balanced with lots of fruit, crisp acid and some length. Available at Topline Wine & Spirits in Glendale, Bicentennial 13 in West Hollywood and Wine Country in Signal Hill, about $6.

2003 Le Galantin (Bandol). Pale salmon pink color, redolent of peaches, apricots and orange peel. Crisp and pleasant, with a silky mouth feel, this wine would be great with grilled scallops or salad. A touch hot in the finish. Available at Monsieur Marcel Gourmet Market in Farmers Market at 3rd and Fairfax, about $20.

2003 Chateau Guiot (Costieres de Nimes). Deep cranberry pink, with a generous red-fruit nose. Fuller-bodied and more alcoholic than most of the field, with mouth-filling fruit, it could stand up to bouillabaisse or spicier food. Available at Wine House in West Los Angeles, about $9.

2003 Domaine Tempier (Bandol). Very pale salmon pink, with aromas of candied grapefruit, peach blossom and jasmine. Some tasters loved this for its beautiful, long finish; others were less impressed (one found the finish bitter; another said there was “no there there.”) Available at Monsieur Marcel and Beverage Warehouse in Marina del Rey, about $26.

2003 Chateau Sainte Roseline (Cotes de Provence). Pale salmon pink, with peach, apricot and melon notes and light citrusy flavors. A bit short in the middle palate, but with its substantial acid, it should be a good food wine. Available at Wine House, about $18.

2003 Boncaillou “Cuvee Lerose” (Corbieres). Salmon pink, with grapefruit, papaya and bitter almond aromas and a touch of bitterness in the finish that reminded the panel of Campari. Available at Monsieur Marcel and Silverlake Wine on Glendale Boulevard, about $14.

2003 Commanderie de la Bargemone (Coteaux d’Aix en Provence). Medium-pale garnet color, with reticent melon and berry aromas. Unfocused and short, but with a pleasant finish. Available at Topline, about $13.

2003 Chateau Pesquie “Les Terrasses” (Cotes du Ventoux). Deep salmon color, with a sweet red fruit and herbal nose and bracing acidity. Available at Wine House, about $9.

-- Charles Perry